Technical Papers Market Watch

After the frenzied highs of several year ago, Japan’s PV market has quietened down
somewhat. But As Izumi Kaizuka writes, ongoing policy and market reforms and the evolution of
new technologies look set to ensure strong continued growth for the foreseeable future

Combined R&D expenditures of 12 major PV module manufacturers in 2016, tracked since 2007, decline by approximately 4.4% in 2016 to US$519.3 million, compared to US$542.9 million in 2015. As 2015 expenditures were a new record high, 2016 becomes the second highest year of spending and 2014 the third highest. All three years highlight total combined annual R&D expenditures above US$500 million.

Quality | The speed of solar deployment in India has raised concerns that quality maybe sacrificed for expediency. As Tom Kenning reports, although there are warning signs of a potential quality problem, efforts are underway to nip it in the bud.

Quality | The speed of solar deployment in India has raised concerns that quality maybe sacrificed for expediency. As Tom Kenning reports, although there are warning signs of a potential quality problem, efforts are underway to nip it in the bud.

It’s always nice when someone tells you directly that you can’t do something to set out and prove them wrong. Photovoltaics International, its sister title PV-Tech.org and their publisher Solar Media were told in the early phases of planning the inaugural PV CellTech conference, that pulling together a string of CTOs and R&D heads from the some of the biggest firms in the cell processing supply chain would not be possible. Following the event’s second outing in March 2017, we have now done it twice.

Intersolar preview | The need for ongoing innovation is one of the few givens in the unpredictable solar business. Ben Willis speaks to two of the lead organisers of Intersolar Europe about the likely big topics on the show floor this year and what those tell us about industry’s continuing evolution.

France | With Europe in search of another PV poster child, an Emmanuel Macron-led France looks all but set to truly embrace the solar revolution. But will it learn from the mistakes of other boom
markets that have preceded it?

Market update | Mexico as yet has only a small installed base of solar PV. But with widely lauded
market reforms beginning to take effect, and a succession of highly competitive tenders under its
belt, this is a market whose time is about to come. Danielle Ola reports

Utility-scale PV | Since the fall of former prime minister Tony Abbott two years ago, the prospects for large-scale solar in Australia have enjoyed a dramatic turnaround. Tom Kenning reports on the changing fortunes of the industry and how storage looks set to become a key partner technology for utility solar.

Having installed more than 75 gigawatts in 2016, the solar industry continues to create opportunities for cell and module manufacturers to expand capacities, while upgrading technologies and improving process flows. Supply remains dominated by p-type crystalline silicon modules, despite ongoing research into n-type variants and the addition of PERC on p-type mono cells. The efficiency increases from p-type mono are now driving p-type multi cell producers to accelerate changes to production lines from both black silicon and PERC. This is now setting new benchmarks for the supply of solar modules in 2017 to utility-scale solar installations.

Market update | Japan’s solar market has slowed considerably since the early days of its feed-in tariff. But as Andy Colthorpe reports, its fundamentals still look strong and there areplenty of promising policy drivers in the pipeline to keep demand buoyant.

Publications

Welcome to Photovoltaics International 41. An emerging theme in the industry further downstream is the growing variety of bankable PV modules. It’s a topic we’ll be picking up on 23-24 October at our PV ModuleTech conference in Penang, Malaysia.
This issue of PVI captures the ongoing work to drive improvements across the full range of those technologies. From the exploration of next generation CIGs cells to the commercial improvements of PERC by Trina Solar, this edition neatly captures that variety.
Fraunhofer ISE reviews the latest results from efforts to improve the texturing of diamond wire sawn wafers.
Trina Solar presents a roadmap for PERC improvements that it claims could halve costs while pushing efficiencies to 24% in around seven years.
ECN and imec explore the latest developments in integrated cell to module manufacturing approaches from the more familiar multi-busbar and multi-wire to shingling and woven fabric and foil-based module technologies for back contacted cells.
Elsewhere, CSEM INES zooms in on a major limiting factor for silicon heterojunction cells, metallization.
All the regular features including our news reviews and R&D spending report make a return, plus lots more.
Following on from this bumper edition, PVI42 will be published in Spring 2019.

The solar industry endured an eventful 2018 with the US establishing its trade tariffs on module imports and China hitting the brakes on deployment, yet, through sheer determination, everyone ended the year feeling fairly optimistic. There is lots of cause for hope in 2019. Module prices are down for the timebeing, seeding subsidy-free markets. We are on the cusp of technological gains that can tilt that balance even further in solar’s favour. Traction with energy storage is clearing up grid headaches and creating new sources of revenue. Our ultimate 2019 briefing addresses all this and more. Our regular Storage and Smart Power section will include all its regulars as well as an in-depth look at California’s vibrant market as decrees turn into deployment.